The head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence service is reportedly aiming to bring more oversight to the agency and hire external advisers, in an effort to prevent a repeat of the NSA spying scandal that engulfed it this year.

BND chief Gerhard
Schindler told a meeting of the staff council leadership that he
wants to bring the 6,500 agents in field offices under central
control, stating that some of them have taken on “a life of
their own,” Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday.

In addition, Schindler said the “administrative and technical
supervision” of the agency needs to be “significantly
improved,” adding that the controlling system should be
strengthened by legal and statistical testing bodies.

He also plans to hire external advisers to assist with the
agency's restructuring, and to put an end to the
“frayed” work.

Schindler
spoke of the agency's operations, stating that tasks have
previously been split between those in field offices and at
headquarters.

That division in labor led to "significant problems in
communication," Schindler said, adding that those issues
were “cemented yet further” after the agency's HQ was
moved to Berlin.

It comes shortly after German media revealed that the BND went against German interests
while spying on European politicians and companies for the US
National Security Agency (NSA). Those involved in the
surveillance were divided between HQ and the listening post at
Bad Aibling.

Adding to the layers of problems was
the fact that no one felt responsible for the employees at Bad
Aibling, Schindler said.

That lack of responsibility and oversight led to the BND
breaching its own 2002 'Memorandum of Agreement' with the NSA –
because the German agency wasn’t supposed to spy on NATO partners
or European institutions on behalf of Washington.

Although BND employees
felt some of the selectors ran contrary to the goal of the agency
and German Foreign Ministry since at least 2008, it wasn't until
2013 – in the midst of the Edward Snowden revelations – that an
investigation showed that some of the selectors violated German
and EU interests.

But despite the spying scandal and imminent restructuring of the
BND, Schindler is keen to continue working with the NSA. He
stated in May that the BND is
“dependent” on the US agency, adding that “without
this cooperation we wouldn't be able to carry out our work.”

The scandal has led to a dip in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's approval
rating, with a May poll finding that one-third of Germans feel
deceived by her.